This is already going strongly on the Open Thread but I think it deserves top billing for a while:
Harriet Harman is due to give a speech in which she will outline a plan to limit media ownership….can’t see any mention of the BBC funnily enough….maybe that’s the Guardian’s editing.
A media ownership cap as low as 15% across newspapers, broadcasting companies and online sites must be considered to stop companies feeling they are “above the rule of law”, according to Harriet Harman.
“Media monopoly matters in a democracy. The concentration of unaccountable media power distorts the political system. The media shapes how we see ourselves and how we see the world. In a democracy, the free flow of information, of different points of view, is crucial for open debate.
“Too much power in too few hands hinders proper debate. Plurality ensures that no media owner can exert such a damaging influence on public opinion and on policy makers. It ensures that no media company can have so much influence that it feels itself immune, above the rule of law. It ensures no private interest can set itself above the public interest.
I see absolutely no reason why such a cap shouldn’t apply just as readily to the BBC as any commercial company…the BBC is all the more ‘influential’ because people expect it to be impartial…and often give it the benefit of the doubt and so genuine bias by the BBC slips by unnoticed as such whereas a commercial company is expected to have a particular political or social outlook and its reports are viewed with that in mind.
The BBC smothers national debate, distorts and corrupts politics and turns a democracy into a one party state by forcing politicians to dance to its tune….hence all politicians look and sound the same.
Too big, too powerful and too unaccountable.
Time for change.
I agree but it is difficult to understand why Harman is taking this line. Perhaps she thinks the bBC is rightwing.
“The BBC is a loved and trusted institution, but it has enemies waiting to pounce.”
Harriet Harman warns the government not to allow a war on the BBC, November 2012.
Unfortunately she is probably correct. Decades of leftie propaganda has succeeded in brainwashing many sheeple into believing the the bBBC is the Envy of the World.
Just like their Nationalised Death Service.
“it is difficult to understand why Harman is taking this line. Perhaps she thinks the bBC is rightwing. “
No – the BBC is part fo the public sector. As a Labourite she considers it an entirely ‘privileged’ entity, free from the standards that apply to the private sector. The same way that she believes that non-violent women ought to be spared prison, but the same should not apply to men.
another step towards correct thinking brought to you by your government in waiting.
I take it the 15% rule for broadcasters will also apply to the BBC if this is enacted.
?
I bet the draft Bill says NO – the 15% limit will not apply to the BBC. The BBC will be exempted from any ceiling.
This Bill is aimed fairly and squarely at Murdoch.
First the Hacked Off deal, now this. If Hugo Chavez were still alive, he’d be jealous of how your elites have been able to pull this off without the kind of international condemnation he got.
Suppose that there`s no chance of that fabled “European Solidarity” now that the Greek BBC has been cut by their Government for cronyism, waste and creepy agendas over many years is there?
Come on Beeb stiffies-give us a week off, and see if we cope without the lies and the drivel…Comrade Mason surely could arrange yet another NUJ-BBC walkout in protest of “Green olives” being preferred to the marginalised and vulnerable “Black ones”!
I call it racist Paul-and so it is…get striking!
What do they actually make, as television programs that are worth watching these days?
For example, if they were like sky, and you bought the channels you want…
If they wanna be a dedicated news/politics/labour channel….fine,
I don’t want to pay for that one.
The have no sport to speak of that interests me (Premier league, FA cup, League cup, champions league, and the championship all in other hands)
I don’t want to pay for their non-sports channel.
Entertainment….thats a larf, what is worthwhile?….Doctor Who….maybe, but cheapened down, actors not wanting to stick around, RTD’s gayification of the franchise, oh, and they make 6-10 eps per year, if they can be arsed…Top gear?…6 eps per year, and clear visible PC rules being stamped all over it each passing season (for reference, watch earlier episodes on Dave in contrast to the newer ones)…I will actually watch that cat thing on Horizon tonight, but it don’t justify my purchase of BBC entertainment.
I don’t wanna pay for that one.
The less said about BBC3 & 4 the better, lefty, un-funny “yoof” telly on 3, 4, has some interesting things on, but you only notice they were on by checking the tv guide, so end up missing them any way.
Don’t want them.
Radio, don’t listen, full stop, it’s bad from my blood pressure.
Can I opt out from my license fee please?, I don’t use the shitty BBC.
I had low expectations of ‘that cat thing’ on BBC2 last night as it was an Horizon production. Typically that means 5 minutes of content plus 10 minutes of ‘dramatization’ repeated twice.
To my surprise last night’s was actually watchable – the content was, though, a statement of the bleedin’ obvious – just like the old Horizon used to be.
Agreed-poor science, pretty crap given the scope for insight that an old Horizon might have managed.
Still-no talk of global boiling for an hour, no mention of Bulgarian moggies getting marginalised by the racist Surrey host chavs of cats.
For which I was pathetically grateful, sad to say
I’ll be interested to hear how she proposes to measure 15% across newspapers, broadcasting companies and online sites.
Is that 15% of each of some bizarre combination of all three, or what exactly because I can’t think of a meaningful way to measure it.
I can imagine Harperson has the Murdochs & Barclay Brothers in her sights, but not Trinity Mirror, so lets take a look at the figures:
Biggest player in press is:
Newscorp with 36.7% Sun Times Sunday Times
Then Associated Newspapers with 20.1% – Daily Mail MoS, Metro.
Unfortunately other than that information as to market share appears to be unavailable.
No one is going to come close to 15% market share on the internet because of the BBC stranglehold, so I imagine this cannot be counted as a serious metric.
In terms of news TV media well there’s only one & that’s Sky!
So it’s pretty obvious that Harperson like so many other lefties wish to prevent those who don’t share her views from expressing them.
Diversity – providing it’s the Labour approved diversity, and that doesn’t include diversity of thought!
As an afterthought Liebour when it signed away our right to make our own laws to Europe failed to make discrimination on the grounds of belief UK law. Nearly everything they wanted was legislated for, but not that.
The case of ‘Redfearn Vs UK (Serco)’ is worth reading.
What an utter bitch Harriet Harman is. And a hypocrite too – when she was with Liberty she pushed for paedophilia to become acceptable, but now she wants to stop men looking at page 3 adults.
http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/index.php/labour-figures-bizarre-link-to-paedophile-groups/
Yet another example of the liberal disconnection from reality. They honestly believe the BBC is sancrosanct. Like the NHS, comprehensive schools and the labour party. What is perfect must never be changed.
The truth is the BBC has a business model that stinks and is more than overdue culling. Waste of time arguing with her though.
“It ensures no private interest can set itself above the public interest.”
I despair.
It really is like trying to reason with a brick.
2013 – The information age when news and opinion from all around the world, written by uncountable independent bloggers and established news outlets is available at the push of a few buttons.
1950 – The year Harriett Harman still thinks it is.
She would prefer it to be 1984.
The BBC is the vanguard of the liberal left. They know that it has immense power and is able to set the political agenda in this country. It is vitally important to the LL that there is no rival to this near monopoly of news and current affairs and this is exactly what the bill is aimed at ensuring.
Personally I would support such a bill if the BBC were to be included as I agree with the premise that democracy is best served by have a great purality of news and current affairs providers.
For the BBC not be included seems to indicates just how hypocritical the LL is and how arrogant they are. They don’t care about democracy at all. They just see the ordinary people as ore with which to build their socialist utopia. If they could find a way of depriving us of our vote they would. Meantime they content themselves with using the BBC to deprive us of unbiased news, of views that don’t fit theirs and ultimately therefore , our voice.
The absolute epitome of the champagne socialist is Harman. A wonderful piece of television when her hypocrisy was so cruelly exposed on BBC Question Time in the ‘pleb’ debate.
Q: Harriet, you were privately educated weren’t you?
A: Yes I was!!!
And Dimblebore not in range to save her from her tormentor!
No 15% cap for the BBC – they are not commercial (ha ha).
I loved the tremor in the voices of all BBC news staff as they reported the closure of Greece’s ETR – surely it couldn’t happen here.